South Carolina Special Durable Power of Attorney for Bank Account Matters

South Carolina state law does not require a Power of Attorney to be recorded, but it does specify that it needs to be notarized. A Power of Attorney may need to be officially recorded, however, if it is intended to be used for a specific special purpose, such as a real estate transaction.

Through the use of a valid Power of Attorney, an Agent can sign checks for the Principal, withdraw and deposit funds from the Principal's financial accounts, change or create beneficiary designations for financial assets, and perform many other financial transactions.

But because of the risk of abuse, many banks will scrutinize a POA carefully before allowing the agent to act on the principal's behalf, and often a bank will refuse to honor a POA.The agent fought back in court and won a $64,000 judgment against the bank.

A power of attorney allows an agent to access the principal's bank accounts, either as a general power or a specific power.If you grant a power of attorney, check with your bank to find out whether the document you intend to use is sufficient. You may want to change the document or even change your bank.

Although third parties do sometimes refuse to honor an Agent's authority under a POA agreement, in most cases that refusal is not legal.In that case, the law allows you to collect attorney's fees if the third party unreasonably refused to accept the POA.

A Power of Attorney might be used to allow another person to sign a contract for the Principal. It can be used to give another person the authority to make health care decisions, do financial transactions, or sign legal documents that the Principal cannot do for one reason or another.

What's the difference between durable and general power of attorney? A general power of attorney ends the moment you become incapacitated.A durable power of attorney stays effective until the principle dies or until they act to revoke the power they've granted to their agent.

A power of attorney allows an agent to access the principal's bank accounts, either as a general power or a specific power. If the document grants an agent power over that account, they must provide a copy of the document along with appropriate identification to access the bank account.